The Dean of Westminster Abbey is preparing to crack a few jokes to ease Kate
Middleton’s jitters when she arrives for her wedding.

The Very Reverend Dr John Hall said he expected the bride to be feeling “a little bit nervous” but would tell her that “everyone was with her”.

The Dean will be the first person to greet Miss Middleton when she arrives at the Abbey on Friday.

He said: “I'm not sure exactly what I will say to her. I suppose I might have to make up a joke or two.

“But I don't think I really will do that. I think I will just welcome her and assure her that everyone is with her - that's one of the key things.

“The congregation is made of up people who will be thrilled to be here.” He added: "I feel that she will have a sense of calmness. I'm sure there will be a great sense of excitement. It's important that she's enjoys it. It's important that Prince William enjoys it.”

He said he expected the atmosphere in the Abbey to be full of joy.

“There will be a sense of prayer and a great sense of the congregation being with them - a great sense of delight.”

The Dean said the couple were handling the run-up to the wedding very well.

"I think they've been coping very well," he said. "It's a hugely demanding and exciting event to be planning for, I think they're both very conscious of the importance of it."

He said he hoped the service would be a "very precious moment" for them.

"It needs to be true to themselves and I think it will be," he added.

The Dean will conduct the service while the Archbishop of Canterbury will marry the couple.

The Very Rev Hall said he believed the ceremony would feel very personal, despite being broadcast live across the world to an estimated audience of two billion.

He admitted that he would be saying a few "arrow" prayers - quick ones to shoot up to heaven - on Friday to calm himself beforehand.

"I'm absolutely hoping and praying that everything will go to plan," he said.

"There will be a good deal of prayer, I can assure you, as well as at the last moment the odd arrow prayer which I have found very effective just to steady my own sense of myself on these occasions."

The Abbey will reopen to the public on Saturday April 30, when visitors will be able to take a new special wedding tour and enjoy a glimpse of how the venue looked on the day.

The wedding flowers will remain on show for a week, with tourists able to follow the couple's routes through the Abbey.